Horseshoe quoit



Aug 20, L G LATTQRE ET AL HORSESHOE QUOIT Filed Dec. 21, 1932 ATTORNEY.

Patented Aug. 20, 1935 HonsEsHoE QUOIT;

Leo G. Lattore and Edward Levagood,

Dearborn, Mich.

Application samba 21, 1932, Serial No. 648,144 claims; (01. 273-106) This invention relates to 'quoits vof the horseshoe type, hereinafter termed a shoe or horseshoe,'and anobject of the invention is torovide anew and improved construction and'fform of a 5.1 horseshoe particularly adapted to prevent the pitched" shoe from leaving the stake: With the form of shoe generally in use, if the bend of the shoe strikes the :stake before it reaches the ground, the shoe is apt toback off from the stake 101 and also if the shoe is-not exactly centered and strikes'the stake at one side of the center'of the bend prior to reaching the ground, the shoe tends to whirl on the stake and bethrown off by-centrifugal force. In either ease while the player has pitched a ringer -he has lost the count. It is to obviate these and other inefliciencies of the commonly used horseshoe which provides the main objectof this invention.

Secondly, an object of the invention is to pro vide a structure so reinforced as to prevent breakage'ne'a r the bend and also prevent breakage at I theh'eel portions adjacent the heel caulks.

commonlyin use.

' These andbtherobjectsand the severaln'ovel' 3 5, featuresof construction embodying our invention is shown in -the'v accompanying i-drawing" in Fig.1 is atplan viewof the shoe from the caulk- 7 ing side. i

Fig; 3is an alternative form of the heel. '7

.Fig. A is a section taken on Inlet-ll of tliig. 1.

l The standard or regulation. horseshoe is two and one-half pounds in weight and requires a heel opening of three and one-half inches.' It is seveninchesin width and seven'and one-half inches in length from toe toheel. It is also conimonpractice-to make'the leg portions approxiinch to an inch land a" fraction in m t f. n width.

,FigLaiS a section taken Son the 2+5 of 'Fig.

- To retain these usual standard measurements; the shoe embodying my inventionis re-forr'ned in comparisonwith the commonly usedshoe'and the rnetal' also so disposed as to give greater strength at the bend and at the heeland further has portions particularly at the bend and at the heel shaped to secure a functional result hereinafter more fully described;

"Firstlmitis to beunderstood that in pitching a shoe the object of ,the pitcher is to cause a shoe is usually-pitched'to turn in the air'to prereaches the ground at about the time it reaches the stake the shoe usually remains in position. Should the commonly used shoelengage the stake shoe to passonto theqstakefheel first and the t before it reaches 'thecground and iscentered so; 7

that the center of the: inner face of the bend strikes the stake it, will usually back off and the pitcherlose the count although having been accurate, in placing'the shoe on thestak e. -'I-'o obviate this difficulty wehave formed the bend on theinner edge-* with an inwardly projecting rounded pointl'atthe center of the bend andextending outwardly from thev sho-e and providingtwo .equally'and reversely'curved portions 2 and ,3 upon opposite sidesof the point gradually merging with the inner face of the respective legs in an unbroken line. Thusif the shoe passes ontothe stake "and the center of the bend engages the -stake, as is indicated-bydottedlines 4,

- the} shoe. will ride onto the stake "causing the stake to ride into the curved-portions 2 or 3 tending'; to cause the shoe to turn and ride do-wnjthe innerface 5 of one leg for instance and,. if the whirling force is sufiicient, to eventually ride into the incurved portion firof the heel on the same side or should the stake ride into the curved portion30f the shoe it would eventually engage the incurved portion I oi'the oppositeheel.

It win: further be evident that Should theshoe not exactly center on the stake, or if the side 5 v or 8 of therespective legs engages the stake as it passes thereonto, theshoe will tend to be whirled and will likewise in effect cause the stake to slide down the inner face of. the leg first engaged to finally engagein the hook end 6 or 1 as the case may be. I

We are aware of theshoes formed with a slight inturned-heel -portion as shown for instance in the patent to 0. P. Mossman et al., No; 1,646,627 but in the Mossman device the inturned end is insufficient to produce the desired result. Our

; tance and to in fact have an inturned terminal point 9 and Ill of the respective heels at a distance from the end of the leg and still secure spacing between these points 9 and I B conforming to the regulation distance of three and one-half inches and to maintain the regulation width of seven inches across the shoe intermediate the toe and heels. It is to be noted that in previous shoes the inner face of the legs is formed on a curve of much shorter radius while in our construction the legs are more nearlyparallel, the curved faces and 8 being flattened for a considerableportion of their length from near the heel to the bend and then turning more sharply to the center of the bend providing the sharply and uniformly curved portions 2 and 3. At the heel the inner face of each leg is turned very sharply inwardly and reversely curved as indicated at 6 and I. 1

Thus the curved faces 2, 3, .5, and ,8 and the curves of the end portions 6 and I gradually merge one into the other to form a smooth and unbroken Further, due to the major portion of the side faces hand 8 of the'respective legs edge or face.

and also there is'a considerable tendencyfor the inner face of the'ben'd to be battered andbecome roughened which isundesirable. To obviate this tendency of breakage and to reduce the tendency to-batterf to any materialextent, theshoe is formed as shown in section in Fig. 2 of considerably greater thickness at the p oint I and from the point I to the outer face of the bend the body of the shoe is tapered as indicated at 'I Z'and I3 in Fig. 2 so that at the toeof-the shoe the'thickness'of the body is uniform with the. thickness of the legs between the bend and the heels; This will be readily observed from Fig.-2.--

It is likewise to be understoodthat this thickened portion at the bend, which is of greatest thickness at the point I, tapers each way from the said central line or point to approximately the dotted lines I4 and I5 adjacent opposite ends Thus the bend of the shoe of the toe caulk II. where the greatest stress is imposed thereon, namely, at the point land the curved portions 2 and 3 are of greater thickness than the legs each way from an imaginary line extending from the point I to the center of the toe and further'is of greater thickness at the inner face of the bend tegral withthe terminal ends of the legs, extend" upwardly therefrom to thesame'height as the toe caulk II, as will be understood fromFig. 2. The

thickness of the heels is greater than thethickness of the respective leg portions between the caulks and the'b'end as will be'understood from the section i-4 in Fig; 4, and each caulk extends along the" body portion for a distance and also extends to the point 9 of the1oneor I0 0f the other heel. This provides a construction in which the heel is materially thickened as is evident in Fig. 2, and thus may withstand considerable hammering in striking the stake.

Also the heel caulk is carried to a distance from tendency of the leg to break 01f at the heel. The heel caulk may be formedas shown in Figs. 1 and 2 or may be formed as shown in Fig. 3 in which latter case'the caulk face is tapered toward the toe and blends into the leg portion. The purpose of this latter form is to avoid an abrupt change in thickness of the shoe at the end of the heel caulk toward the toe. Either of the formsmay be used, the essential feature being that the caulk be of such length as to extenda material distance upwardly along the leg from its terminaliportion. In the form shown in Fig. 3the face of the caulk parallel with the face of the leg is less in length than the form shown in Fig.2 for instance "and in Fig; 2 the dotted line I6 indicates the form of the caulk shownin Fig. 3 superimposed upon the form shown in Fig. 2

,wherein it will be seen that no greater amount of-material is required in the form shown in Fig. 3 than isrequired in the form shown in point 2 I. and thena curve of increasing radius 22 to the'point 9- and IOfof the respective leg ends. As this end portion is somewhat thicker than the body of the legs between the heelcaulk and bend it can withstand more hammering as previously stated. "Also, due to the curved face of the said end, should said end strike the stake along the curve 22 of longer radius the shoe tends to. ride onto the stake. ,With a straight end at an angle to the side faces of the leg as in previous constructions, there is a tendency for the shoe to back away (from the stake as said straight end strikes the stake squarely. With a curved face there is much greater tendency for the said legto move off or slide by the stake and permit the shoe to pass thereonto.

The purpose of the caulks, as is well known, is to provide a means preventing the shoe from whirling when it strikes the ground, it of course being understood thatthe shoe should be pitched with caulks down and also preferably the edges of thebody portion are slightly curved as will struction with the thickened body portions at the toe and at the heel where the greatest strengthisrequired, the leg portions between the said thickened portions may be somewhat less than the usual thickness, these portions being less liable to breakage or deformation through striking a stake. Thus it is possible to increase the length of. the heel caulks and also tomaintain balance of the shoe so that. in pitching it may be more easily turned in a plane or what is sometimes termed pitched flat. An unbalanced shoe:tends to wobblein the air and-therefore is less liable to pass onto the stake.

From the foregoing description itwill be evident that the various objects and features of the invention are attained by the construction described and that the shoe-may be made of one piece either by casting or preferably drop forged.

Having thus fully described ourinvention, what we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is- 1. A quoit of horseshoe form having the body thereof at the bend of greater thickness at the inner edge than the thickness of the leg portions, a toe caulk at the outer edge of the bend and. heel caulksat the terminal end of the legs, said heel caulks and ends of the legs being formed in a relatively sharp-curve gradually merginginto the curve of the outer edge of each leg, the heel caulks projecting inwardly of the inner face of the respective leg toward each other and forming a sharp curve gradually merging in an unbroken line with the inner edge of the leg and terminating at its inner end with the curve forming the outer'face of the heel, said heel caulks extending along the respective leg toward the bend for a distance beyond the point where the inner curve of the said heel portion merges with the inner edge of the leg.

2. A quoit of horseshoeio-rm having a thickened body portion at the bend formed at its inner face to provide an inwardly projecting point in the plane of the legs, the opposite side edges of which are formed by a comparatively sharp curve, and the terminal ends of the legs being inwardly. and reversely turned toprovide curved edges merging with the inner edges of the respective legs in an unbroken line, and heel caulks on said terminal ends extending along the legs to a point beyond the curve joining the terminal ends with the legs. V

3. A quoit of horseshoe formhaving the inner edges of the legs formed on a curve of long radius providing practically parallel leg portions and" generally of a greater width apart than the desired width of heel opening, the bend of the horseshoe having a pointed portion the sideedges each way from which extend on a'curve of comparatively short'radius and increasing in radius to merge with the inner edges of the leg in an unbroken; line, the heel portions of the said legs being inturned'toward each other a distance to provide the required width of opening and the inner or bend side of said projections being formed on a curve of short radius gradually merging with the inner edge of the leg in an unbroken line and the outer end faces of which heel portions being formed on a curve meeting the curve of the inner edge of the terminal portions at a point and extending in an unbroken curved line to mergewith the outer edges of the leg portions, a toe caulk at the bend, and heel caulks wardly of the said legs, the inner edges of which from said point are sharply curved to merge with the inner edge of the respective leg and the outer edges of which are generally inclined in such manner that the point of the heel in striking the stake tends to lead the shoe onto the stake, a heel caulk on each of said heel portions extending to the leg to reinforce the leg at the point of connection with the heel point, the base of said heel caulks extending practically to the heel point, and a toe caulk at the outeriedge of the bend on the same side of the quoit as the heel caulks.

5. A quoit of horseshoe form,the body of which at the bend is of greatest thickness at the inner edge and decreasing in thickness toward the outer edge, said thickened portion likewise tapering each Way from a central point toward'the respective leg portions, the leg portions being practically parallel, the inner face of each of which merges with the curve of the bend in a'practically' unbroken line, a toe caulk at the outer edge of the bend, the leg ends being inturned and of a distance apart less than the distance between the inner edges'of the legs, and heel caulks on said inturned leg ends extending along the leg beyond the point of connection ofthe said ends therewith.

LEO G. LATTORE. EDWARD LEVAGOOD. 

